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Win10 1809 Update Unknown Device Works

Given the flak that Win10 1809 is catching lately, I wanted to share some good news in the wake of a recent clean install. Normally, when Device Manager (DevMgr) includes the Other Devices category, one or more Unknown device entries follow. This means that Windows has enumerated devices and found one or more items it doesn’t recognize. If it doesn’t recognize them, it can’t find drivers for them either. But I learned yesterday, to my great and pleasant surprise, there is some potential for relief. That’s why I say Win10 1809 update Unknown device works — at least, sometimes.

Other devices is the DevMgr category under which problem or unrecognized devices often appear. Here’s a slew of them.

Why Say: Win10 1809 Update Unknown Device Works

For any device entry in DevMgr, right-clicking produces a pop-up menu. The first option in that menu list reads “Update driver.” Here’s a screencap:

I’ve done this countless times in older Windows versions (8.1 and earlier) and in older Win10 iterations (1803 and back). I don’t remember Windows *ever* being able to update a driver that showed up under the “Other devices” heading with an “Unknown device” label. Yesterday I encountered two such entries on a test machine. Thus, imagine my surprise and delight when right-clicking, selecting Update driver, and getting the first driver properly installed (and moved into System devices). The second one worked two, because both were related: Intel(R) Serial IO UART Host Controller – 9C63 and – 9C64.

Apparently MS has added some logic in the update driver mechanisms to check the Hardware ID values. Thus, it could use that data to identify and find the necessary drivers even when initial device enumeration fails for whatever reason. This probably won’t work for ALL unknown Win10 devices. But I find myself eagerly awaiting my next such discovery to see if updating an Unknown device works as nicely next time around. Here’s hoping!

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